Tag: Mccain

“The Daily Show’s” Lewis Black probes the soft underbelly of the celebrity endorsement, from the guy who played Kumar to the “political juggernaut that is Dick Van Patten.” And if you think Oprah is excited about Barack Obama, just wait until you see how she reacts to the cast of “Desperate Housewives.”

Gen. David Petraeus dug in his heels during a Senate hearing Tuesday, refusing to give specifics about additional U.S. troop withdrawal plans after July, recommending a “pause” instead and taking heat from congressional opponents like Carl Levin and Hillary Clinton in the process. Meanwhile, John McCain spoke of “real hope and optimism” for Iraq’s future.

If the election comes down to bowling ability, the Democrats are in serious trouble. Hillary Clinton poked fun at her rival’s poor showing at the lanes, but it turns out she can’t bowl either. Of course, there’s no evidence John McCain would fare any better. Is it too much to ask that the next president be able to roll a ball in a straight line?

While he continues to get tremendous support from Republicans (go figure), Joe Lieberman is on the outs with Democrats and independents in his home district, according to a new poll. Were an election held today, 74 percent of Democrats would vote for Ned Lamont, while the same percentage of Republicans would vote for Lieberman over their own candidate.

John McCain told a Memphis crowd gathered in memory of the assassination of Martin Luther King that “I was wrong” to oppose a national holiday for Dr. King, but that didn’t stop some in the crowd from heckling the would-be president.

Barack Obama raised more than $40 million in March to Hillary Clinton’s $20 million. Between them, the Democrats took in about three times in March what John McCain raised in January and February combined. That’s good news for Democrats, but only, as Donna Brazile points out, if the money isn’t “used to tear the party apart.”

There was the Jason Blair scandal, the Judith Miller WMD fiasco, the John McCain (yawn) brouhaha and the appointment of neocon “never-get-it-right” William Kristol as an Op-Ed columnist, to mention a few New York Times blunders. All that and a shareholders’ assault make the Sulzbergers’ lock on ownership of The New York Times seem not entirely impregnable, explains Vanity Fair’s Michael Wolff.

Hillary Clinton’s latest ad reprises her 3 a.m. theme, only this time she’s taking calls on the economy. The most interesting thing about this commercial is its target: not Barack Obama, who has just surpassed Clinton in one poll in Pennsylvania, but John McCain. Update: McCain responds.

At least two of the presidential candidates decided to have a laugh this April Fools’ Day. Hillary Clinton challenged Barack Obama to a winner-take-all bowling tournament, while John McCain stopped by CBS to take revenge on David Letterman for all of those old-man jokes.

CNN takes a look at John McCain’s tendency to flub lines in the middle of speeches because he has difficulty reading the teleprompter. Apparently it’s such an issue that his campaign has had to experiment with a range of alternatives.

A couple of recent polls have indicated that Clinton and Obama supporters would be so devastated by their candidate’s loss they would throw their support to McCain. Bill Maher asked Dan Savage to investigate the claim, and Savage concluded that voters were “having a little fit now, because they’re not going to have that little fit in November.”

Since the 1960s, bigotry has undergone an aesthetic makeover. Today, the most pernicious racists do not wear pointy hoods, scream epithets and anonymously burn crosses from behind masks. They don starched suits, recite sententious bromides and stage political lynchings before television cameras.

The three presidential contenders had a bit of a showdown Thursday over the economy. Barack Obama gave a major address in New York, while Hillary Clinton spoke in North Carolina. They criticized each other, as well as John McCain, who barked back.

Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama gave major economic policy speeches Thursday, outlining specific proposals and highlighting John McCain’s relative weakness on the subject. Obama called for a boost in regulation and an additional $30 billion in stimulus while Clinton proposed a job retraining program.

Four thousand. When U.S. military deaths in Iraq hit a round number, as happened Sunday, there’s usually a week or so of intense focus on the war—its bogus rationale, its nebulous aims, its awful consequences for the families of the dead. Not likely this time, though.

Those of us who oppose the war, who believe that all U.S. troops should be withdrawn and the network of permanent bases in Iraq dismantled, have only two options in the coming presidential elections—Ralph Nader and Cynthia McKinney.

Even some Hillary Clinton supporters have expressed reservations over the role of the former president in the campaign. Others have argued that the media and the Obama campaign exaggerate when it comes to his comments. Whatever the case, Bill’s mouth has gotten him into trouble again.

Joshua Micah Marshall of Talking Points Memo argues that John McCain’s foreign policy shortsightedness makes him unfit to command. It’s not just Iraq, Marshall says, but a pattern of looking at the world simplistically.

Presidential contender John McCain took a trip to the Middle East to showcase his foreign policy chops, so the opposition was particularly delighted that it was during such a demonstration that he committed this gaffe.

The Democratic presidential candidates squabble over real or imagined racial sensitivities, the Republican presidential candidate stages photo opportunities with the troops in Iraq, and meanwhile the financial system is coming apart at the seams.

A new Zogby poll suggests that John McCain has capitalized on his rivals’ ongoing combat, beating both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in a hypothetical matchup. But Ralph Nader also did better than expected, with 5 to 6 percent of the vote, mostly from progressives and independents. Updated

All three presidential candidates are scheduled to be back in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. A Republican senator has proposed a yearlong ban on earmarks and, shocking though it may seem, John McCain, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are apparently on board with the idea. Their colleagues in the Senate, however, are somewhat less enthusiastic.

According to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, Americans want the next president to be a Democrat, by a whopping 13-point margin. But when asked about the candidates by name, John McCain pulls into a statistical tie with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

The Pennsylvania primary isn’t until April 22, and the campaign has already gotten nasty. There have been so many dust-ups between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in the last couple of days, it’s almost hard to keep track. With weeks to go, there’s no sign of a cease-fire.

The AFL-CIO isn’t going to wait around for the Democrats to pick a nominee before it starts campaigning against John McCain. The largest union in America plans to spend a record $53 million to make sure the next president isn’t a Republican.

Liberals who have sung the praises of John McCain in the past confront a fascinating test of consistency, integrity and political commitment now that McCain is the virtually certain Republican nominee. It could be an amusing moment. I should know, since I’m one of them.

Mitt Romney could be headed back to political prime time now that conservative heavyweights, including The Weekly Standard, are pushing him as John McCain’s best bet for vice president. Romney’s economic know-how, it is argued, along with his popularity with the Bush wing of the party, makes him a safe choice.

With arithmetic on his side, the Illinois senator still should be heavily favored to win the nomination. But he does have a problem: The world-class orator, attacked by opponents for being all talk and no walk, urgently needs to come up with a new speech.

A joint probe by the Center for Investigative Reporting and National Public Radio traces the money behind a new anti-McCain ad, revealing an alliance of top Democratic donors who’ve already raised millions to take back the White House.

In the end, the most memorable line of the primary season may belong to Bill Clinton: “I’ve been waiting all my life to vote for an African-American president. I’ve been waiting all my life to vote for a woman for president. ... I feel like God is playing games with our heads and our hearts.”

Whatever their true private beliefs, presidential candidates in America are constantly required to provide proofs of faith, often through their connections with various religious figures. Benedictions from the pulpit bestow an aura of righteousness—except, of course, when the pastor or minister is a disreputable kook whose endorsement should be an embarrassment.